VistaPC bringing down netgear router

[StarviewGav]

Hi guys, I hope one of you can help me. On my home network I have an old DG834G Netgear router/modem. I have 2 laptops, 1 running XP home and the other running Vista home basic connceted via wireless to this router. All is okay with these but I've recently added another PC (desktop) running Vista ultimate and I connected it directly via the ethernet port. This is where the problem starts. I'll be online very briefly, seconds, and then all of a sudden nothing and my router/modem starts blinking orange indicating that there is no intenet connection. Thus my two laptops also lose the connection to the internet. I can still access the router from any pc so I know it's not the cabling and as soon as i disconnect the ethernet cable to my pc the router will go back online and everything works as normal. I just can't get my desktop vista pc connected without this problem. I've read that it could be with vista but one of my laptops is vista. Perhaps I need to install some updates to resolve this but I can't get connected to install them.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

[dasteph]

there is different versions of your router so i have put in the link to the web page so you can decide which update you need, all the updates are dated April 2009 hope this is of some help.

Answer

[Frederick]

I know everyone laughs but sometimes simply turning everything of at the mains and then back on again, more than often cures network connectivity issues.

Definetly powering off modems / routers often cleans out glitches !

Power off Router/Modem say for 30secs, and then back on again, normally modem 1st and then router, but as yours is combined then this dont matter ! Then turn on 1 PC at a time and allow network to find itself.

Its worth a try if you havent already ......


Freddy

[StarviewGav]

Okay I've now updated the router with the latest firmware. The router model is v1. I've also managed to update the Vista pc with all windows updates (using someone elses internet connection) and still nothing. Well, after updating the router firmware, I thought it had worked because i was connected and surfing just fine but then it just cut off bringing down the network again. I'm at a complete loss as to what the problem is here. Also, i've tried cutting power to everything and restarting. No good I'm afraid.

Any more advice?

[nevovx]

Keep your desktop disconnected
Disable wireless on your laptop for testing purposes.
Use the same cable you have used with your desktop and try to connect the laptop to router via ethernet port.
If this works it means cable and ethernet port on router is ok so disconnect your laptop and re-enable wireless.

Disable network card in pc and find a pci network card and install it in your pc. Connect the cable to your new network card and see if its causing same problem.

You can also download a live windows or linux cds and boot from the cd and see if it connects to internet fine which will eliminate the problem is caused by your operating system.

Good Luck.

[StarviewGav]

Thanks nevovx,
I have tried to connect the laptop with wireless disabled and hardwired to the router, and it works fine. I then tried another pc I have running xp, and that seems to be causeing the same problem. This tells me that it's not my pc afterall and perhaps some kind of permision setting on the router. I've looked through all the settings and can't find anything. I've read that windows firewall can cause problems with this router as it has it's own hardware firewall built in so I will try to disable that next. Don't see why that would cause the router to go offline but I'll try anything at this point. Also, the firewall is enabled on the other two laptops and they can connect no problem. I'm in the process of updating my ISP so I should receive a new router/modem from them. Hopefully this router will work. I've never known anything like this.

[nevovx]

Well to the router it doesnt matter if its a laptop or a desktop as they are both the same thing as in networking wise.

I ve seen cases where the pins in the network adapter was damaged and when plugged in to the router cause the router to restart or cause other problems and that is what i was trying to find out to be honest if this was the case. As it doesnt make much sense when it works for the laptops and doesnt for desktops. Have you tried to reset the router by any chance.

Which isp you changed to now btw ?

[ruudvandan]

I had a similar problem with my setup when I first installed Vista. It turned out that the problem was the network adapter on my motherboard was incompatible with Vista. I was able to get around it by setting up a static IP address on the computer and everything was fine after that. Try doing that and post back, or let me know if you need instructions how.

P.S. how old is your motherboard and what is the network adapter? My motherboard was supposedly "Vista ready" but there were other thngs that also didn't work.

[jancoyle]

Just a thought-have you tried disabling Windows Defender? I had the same problem a while back and it was a conflict between Netgear and Windows Defender that caused it.Hope this helps you.Another reason could be that you havent assigned different IPs to each laptop & pc which could cause one or the other to disconnect.You could also try ringing up the Netgear helpline and they would help you-Jan

[CommuniK]

Check that UPnP is DISABLED on the router.
Windows likes to 'discover' your internet router and send control commands to it if it can by using UPnP. This is often seen under Windows Network connections by showing the router as an internet connection which you can right click and get a status page on and often connect/disconnect manually.